Ruth Lynch joins Hanover School Committee

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2013 at 6:59 AM

The town of Hanover officially has a new face on the school committee.

During a joint meeting Monday night, the board of selectmen and school committee overwhelmingly supported the appointment of Whiting Street resident Ruth Lynch to fill a midterm vacancy on the committee.

Scott MacKeen

The town of Hanover officially has a new face on the school committee.

During a joint meeting Monday night, the board of selectmen and school committee overwhelmingly supported the appointment of Whiting Street resident Ruth Lynch to fill a midterm vacancy on the committee.

Lynch, a longtime resident and retired educator, was one of two candidates who sought to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Kevin Bradley in July.

The other was Michael Bean, a business attorney who moved to town with his family in March. He grew up in Rockland and Hanson.

While Lynch was unable to attend Monday night’s meeting due to a death in the family, the selectmen and school committee were still able to “interview” her by viewing the video of a meeting from last year when she was interviewed for a previous vacancy on the committee.

At the start of the meeting, Selectmen Chairman Joe Salvucci announced that, in fairness to both candidates, Bean would be asked questions similar to those that Lynch was asked last year.

Lynch is the former principal at Pembroke High School, a post she held for seven years before retiring in 2011. She and her husband have lived in Hanover for over 40 years and their children graduated from Hanover High School.

As a retiree, Lynch said she has been able to pursue many of her personal goals and feels the time is right to direct her efforts to volunteerism.

“Now that I’m retirement, this is the perfect opportunity to finally get involved,” she said in the video.

As a member of the school committee, Lynch said she would strive to foster a collaborative environment with teachers, administrators and parents. She said this was always among her top goals at Pembroke High and was a key factor that went into hiring the current superintendent there.

“We want our children to be self-sufficient. In reality, what we want them to be is good members of society,” she said. “It takes a combined effort and ingenuity.”

Despite recent trends in local school systems of trimming away budgets due to economic factors, she said she would also look to protect the resources the schools have now and need to continue to grow.

“When you start chopping away at the curriculum, that’s tragic,” she said.

Overall, Lynch said it is the school committee’s job to set policies and goals for the district and the administration’s job to execute those objectives. The school committee must also be active and visible in the community, she said.

“People know who the school committee [members] are in town like this. It’s very important to them,” she said. “This is a perfect time in my life. Time is something I have. It’s a wonderful way to give back to the community.”

Bean, while a newcomer to town, expressed a similar desire to give back and make a positive difference on the school system.

“I’ve worked hard my whole life. I’m no stranger to hard work,” he said. “I just want to contribute to the long-term success of the community. I really want to enable [the administration] and give them the resources they need to be successful.”

With his legal background, Bean noted that he has a great deal of experience with negotiating contracts, and as a parent of three young children he felt he would offer the right perspective on the committee.

“All the parents want to make sure you’re available to listen to their concerns. I will follow that model to always listen to them,” he said.

Selectman John Barry felt that the fact that Bean has a young family may actually be a drawback for his candidacy, noting that it requires a major time commitment.

“I am a little concerned about the commitment with your family. I have young kids of my own,” said Barry, who at the same time lauded Bean for jumping into the race.

While also praising Bean, School Committee Chairman Will Marriner favored Lynch for the vacancy, noting that the committee is currently “very weighted toward young parents” and could benefit from Lynch’s years of experience as a veteran educator.

Committee Vice Chairman John Geary, who himself has four young children, supported Bean.
“It can be done,” he said of managing family life with service on the school committee. “What type of stakeholder should we have on the school committee? I nominate Mr. Bean.”

In terms of the nomination, Geary was the lone vote for Bean, although Salvucci made sure to point out that this is a temporary appointment. Salvucci encouraged Bean to run again in the spring.

“I think all of us would help you in any way we can,” he said.

Special Town Meeting is now Oct. 10

Later in the meeting, selectmen received a number of negative comments from residents for the board’s decision to hold the upcoming Special Town Meeting on Oct. 12, which is not only a Saturday but is Columbus Day weekend.

“I think it was a pretty arbitrary decision,” said Mike Tivnan, chairman of the town’s Parks and Recreation Committee.

The main issue for Tivnan and several others who spoke was the fact that the main issue to be debated at Town Meeting – additional funding for the Forge Pond Park ballfields – is largely a concern for parents of young children. The fact that the meeting was scheduled for the Saturday of a holiday weekend at 8 a.m. led some to believe that the board was attempting to exclude these parents.

The selectmen actually made a reverse argument, stating that their decision to move to a Saturday was based on poor recent attendance at Town Meeting and a desire to get more people involved.

“We were trying to get a cross-section of the town to be able to attend,” said Selectwoman Susan Setterland.

Salvucci said he didn’t realize it was Columbus Day weekend, but said the idea was to try to bring out more of the town after a sparsely attended Annual Town Meeting back in the spring.
“It was an embarrassment,” said Barry of the Annual Town Meeting. “It was so poorly attended.”

At times during the conversation, the selectmen were accused of different hidden motives for the change, with one resident saying they were out of touch with lower-income residents who have to work on Saturdays.

“That’s blatantly false,” responded Barry. “The tenor of this meeting is unfortunate. This isn’t about us against them.”

All agreed that they wanted to see the Forge Pond Park ball fields completed. The project has been plagued by delays, including a problem in getting electricity to the site.

On Setterland’s motion, the board voted to move the Special Town Meeting to Thursday, Oct. 10. At the recommendation of Town Moderator Doug Thomson, that Special Town Meeting will ask residents to weigh in on the idea of Saturday town meetings moving forward.